Sonny Gray was on top of his game, while Matt Hamann struggled to miss Vanderbilt bats. The Commodores got 14 of their 15 hits against the Bruins’ ace.

Belmont plays Oklahoma State in an elimination game at 2 p.m. Saturday. Vanderbilt gets Troy at 7. Here is what Belmont and Vanderbilt coaches and players said after the game.

Belmont Coach Dave Jarvis

Initial thoughts …

“What we witnessed tonight was a testament to how good a ballclub Vanderbilt has this year. This was no surprise. Sonny Gray was as good as to be expected. He was pitching at 93-94 (MPH) and had dominating stuff, yet still pitching to contact. That’s what I see guys in the big leagues do. He’s a tick better than what we see (in the Atlantic Sun). He’s definitely at the top of the list of pitchers we’ve seen this year.

“Give credit to their defense, too, and some of the defensive plays they made behind him. They played exceptional well behind Sonny. We went in looking for something early in the count, trying to get a good hitter’s pitch. I thought our kids did a good job of squaring balls up and putting them in play. We just didn’t hit the ball hard enough or in the right places.

“We know what a quality team Vanderbilt is, but it’s just a baseball game. It’s over with, so we’ll wash it off in the shower tonight and come ready to play tomorrow.”

On getting ready for Saturday’s game …

“Our kids have dealt with this before. We have been dealt with these types of circumstances before. Our kids are really good about sweeping things away and coming back tomorrow. Quite honestly, we are excited and looking forward to that opportunity tomorrow. We are looking forward.

“Oklahoma State is definitely a quality opponent and is battle-tested. I am not panicked about it, they are going to throw quality arm against us. But I like our offense, and we have the capability of generating offense. It will be a great ballgame tomorrow and we are excited about the opportunity.”

On Hamann’s performance …

“I thought Matt battled very well and he threw all of his pitches for strikes and located very well.”

Matt Hamann

On the Commodores’ approach …

“The big thing is getting the leadoff guys out and that’s something I didn’t do a great job tonight. Once they get rolling, they’re a tough team. More than anything, they’re just tough hitters to get out.

“Nerves weren’t a big part of it. I was hitting the spots I wanted to. It’s just a testament to how good they really are. They just did a real good job of hitting them.”

On the upcoming game with Oklahoma State …

“We are fighting for our lives, just like usual. I think we’ll thrive on that.”

Greg Brody

On Gray’s performance …

“Hands down, Sonny is a great pitcher. He’s going to be a top pick in the draft. He was getting ahead in the count. He’s a great pitcher and one of the best I’ve hit off of. We put balls in play but they didn’t go our way.”

On playing in the NCAA Tournament …

“It was a great experience. It didn’t turn out the way we wanted to, but I enjoyed every minute of it.”

Vanderbilt Coach Tim Corbin

Initial thoughts …

“We just got off to a good start tonight. We were very aggressive with the bats and Sonny pitched very well. He executed his pitches, which got him to the sixth. We got three other guys some experience tonight as well in that particular situation. We had a couple of big innings, three big innings really. The six-run fourth was the one that broke things open. I’m proud of the way the guys played tonight. But it’s just one game and we can’t take the runs into tomorrow, but you can certainly take the confidence and the way we came out to play.”

On wanting to get an early lead…

“We just wanted to play well. It’s all our mindset was, to come out and be aggressive and attack. Attack from a pitching standpoint and attack from an offensive standpoint. I think Sonny did a good job of letting us play a little bit. It was very important for him to get deep into the ballgame. We can do that because we are very defensive-minded. The mindset was just to go out there and play well. The kids were loose, they felt good and we knew it coming in. We’re in a good place right now. It doesn’t mean that we’ll continue to play that way, but I feel good about the group.”

On facing Troy on Saturday …

“Troy is a good ballclub. They’ve very well-coached; they look like they’re very disciplined. They won, too. They beat a Big 12 opponent and they won their league. We’re going to have to brush this one aside quick, just as if we lost it. We just have to move onto another challenge.”

Sonny Gray

On being comfortable early in the game …

“We came in all week focused and we knew they were an aggressive team. We wanted to throw a lot of fastballs and get a lot of first-pitch outs. We were able to do that. When they were putting the ball in play you have to credit to the defense. Coming off the bat, the first play of the game, (Anthony) Gomez makes an unbelievable play at short, that backhand tough play. I knew that throwing strikes and getting a lot of ground balls, it turned out that was the key.”

On coming out of the game after six innings and 68 pitches …

“It’s going to take a lot more guys to win this tournament. We got some guys some experience tonight and that was good for us. It was good that we had three shutout innings from the bullpen.”

On the confidence he gets when the defense makes big plays …

“It’s awesome. As a pitcher, that’s what you dream for. We have a really, really solid defense. It’s shown all year. You get down 2-0 or the guy is a first-pitch swinger, you have confidence to throw the fastball and let them hit the ball. You trust your defense that they’re going to make a play. We’ve done that all year, and in order for us to keep winning, we’re going to have to keep doing that, which we will.”

Anthony Gomez

On looking for first-pitch hits against Hamann …

“I don’t think so much it was swinging at the first pitch, but I think it was just the fact that we were seeing balls that were good pitches. He was staying around the zone pretty much the whole game. Guys were seeing the ball up and were putting good swings on it. We just stuck with that approach from then on.”

Curt Casali

On driving in two runs early in the game …

“It’s really big for our team. I think if you look at the past games that we’ve played, we’re really tough to beat when we score first. It’s a fun atmosphere and you want to make everybody happy. You want to give them something to cheer about and get the energy going. Fortunately, we were able to get two across in the first and it translated to the rest of the at-bats for the rest of the lineup. It was fun.”

On winning the first regional game decidedly as the top seed …

“It’s the first time that I’ve personally been able to do it, and I don’t think you could ask for a better first game than against a solid conference tournament champion in Belmont. We were just trying to come out fast and hopefully we can do the same thing tomorrow against Troy.”

]]>http://blogs.tennessean.com/vanderbilt/2011/06/03/post-game-comments-from-vanderbilts-10-0-win-over-belmont/feed/0Tim Corbin, Vanderbilt players preview the NCAA Regionalhttp://blogs.tennessean.com/vanderbilt/2011/06/03/tim-corbin-vanderbilt-players-preview-the-ncaa-regional/
http://blogs.tennessean.com/vanderbilt/2011/06/03/tim-corbin-vanderbilt-players-preview-the-ncaa-regional/#commentsFri, 03 Jun 2011 20:03:45 +0000Jeff Lockridgehttp://blogs.tennessean.com/vanderbilt/?p=1651Vanderbilt, the No. 6 national seed and Nashville Regional host, begins its postseason march toward the College World Series at 7 tonight against neighbor Belmont at Hawkins Field.

Here is what Vanderbilt Coach Tim Corbin and some of his players had to say this week as they prepared for the regional:

Vandy Coach Tim Corbin

On whether his team has any nerves going in …

“I haven’t sensed any nervousness since the day we started, really. Going back to Opening Day, I sensed a calmness and kind of a still of heart, where they were in a competitive mode but very happy to be playing. Nothing really changed.

“I think that Texas trip really helped us a lot, looking back at it, to get that game moment. Since that time I think they’ve stayed the same about the entire way.”

On whether there is any pressure on the players stemming from losing the 2007 regional at home …

“They don’t know about that unless someone asks them that question to be honest with you. We don’t bring up 2007. We don’t bring up 2004 when we went to the Super Regional in Texas. Those are things that happened long before we were here, and it doesn’t factor into what we’re doing right now.”

On Belmont starting pitcher Matt Hamann …

“He’s a hard-throwing right-hander that throws with a downhill angle. He’s got a good fastball. He’s got a good changeup. He’s got a lot of confidence in his changeup. And he’s got a good breaking ball, too.

“When we start talking about scouting reports with pitchers, we do refer to other people that we’ve seen before because really that’s the best way to do it. You just want to paint a visual to the kid so they have an idea. Beyond that, they’re just seeing the ball and trying to attack it.”

On if Vandy keeps the same lineup it had in Hoover …

“Nothing changes that way. We don’t have any changes, and we won’t. We’ve been pretty consistent with that lineup.”

On whether he expects low-scoring regional games with a lot of small ball (sacrifices, moving runners, etc.) …

“Really depends on the pitching, and it really depends on how we’re attacking the pitchers. If we start to get off good swings, sometimes we put the small ball in our back pocket. And I look at the small ball with us, we started it at the beginning of the year. Kind of in the middle of the year the kids were hitting the ball and we kind of went away from it. And then we’ve come back to it.

“It’s something that we practice everyday because we know at some point of a game or some point of the season that you’re going to bring it back out again. And we didn’t the first two games (in Hoover) against Georgia and South Carolina and executed very, very well. We can go either way. That’s what I like about the club.”

On whether the anticipation of a regional causes him to lose sleep at night …

“Nah. I stay awake at night because my wife can’t keep her hands off me. She touches me all the time when I’m asleep. That’s the only reason I stay up at night. No, I sleep really peaceful, trust me. No pills. No nothing. I just go right to bed. Maybe a beer, but that’s it. I sleep real peacefully. I’ve got a good group here. I’m comfortable.”

On if he thought Oklahoma State or Troy could be among the teams assigned to this regional …

“No, not really. Didn’t envision Oklahoma State or Troy coming here, to be honest with you. It goes back to finding what film you can find on them and contacting teams that have played them during the course of the year. Outside of that, you get to see them one time (on Friday) but that’s probably not enough. It basically comes down to how you play more than what they are. That’s what we’ll focus on.”

On the ESPN commentator’s statements on Monday that Vandy has a very manageable path to the CWS …

“That’s someone’s assessment. That’s not my assessment. It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. It matters how these kids approach this tournament and how well they play. If they play well, then they’ll have the opportunity to play beyond. If they don’t, then they won’t. It’s that simple. We’ll keep it that way and will not be removed from that process.”

C Curt Casali

On Belmont starter Matt Hamann …

“It’s nothing that we haven’t seen before. He’s going to throw strikes. He’s a right-hander. I don’t know his name, even, but he’s on Friday night for a reason. They’re going to come at us with their best punch, and we’re going to counter with Sonny (Gray).”

On the prospect of low-scoring regional games …

“We’re a team that’s proven we can safety squeeze with the best of them. We’re a team that can home runs when we need to, also. The main approach of our hitters is gap-to-gap, hit low line drives, hit the ball hard and seek out fastballs. That’s what we’ll continue to do.”

RHP Sonny Gray

On if he recalls anything from Vandy’s 6-2 win over Belmont on Feb. 23 …

“Not really off the top of my head. I know it was a close game. I know they’ve got a good team. I know a lot of their guys. I can’t recall as much on the baseball field.”

1B Aaron Westlake

On whether it’s fun to play teams like Oklahoma State or Troy that you know little about, and they know little about you …

“Yeah. That’s what’s fun about playing in a regional. Going to Louisville (the last two years), we see them all the time. We’ve played Belmont obviously quite a few times. But we don’t know anything about (Oklahoma State and Troy). That’s what’s exciting. You play in the SEC all the time. Everyone knows everything about you. We’ve played Florida four times, Georgia four times … stuff like that … in the past couple of weeks.”

On the first meeting with Belmont this season …

“So much has gone on since then. I honestly don’t remember. I’m assuming it was cold. That’s about all I remember. I don’t know what the score was or anything. I do know they’re going to be a different team and so are we. They’re going to give us all they’ve got.”

On whether getting a No. 6 national seed (instead of something higher) goes back to the regular-season Sunday losses to South Carolina and Florida …

“I’m sure that has something to do with it. We had our opportunities to close out and win the series but we just didn’t get it done. They’re both great teams. I’m sure that has something to do with it. Obviously, there are other conferences that I’m sure they want to give some higher seeds to them before they give three straight SEC teams a high bid … I’m sure that’s what had to do with it.”

Are more low-scoring games in store for the regional after a low-scoring SEC Tournament? …

“I don’t really know. Hoover is a much bigger field than any park we’re ever going to play in the rest of the year. I guess that’s just what’s going to happen. Going there, we knew it was going to be pitching and defense in a park like that. You can’t hit too many balls in the air and that’s what we did against Florida. That’s why we didn’t score any runs. We didn’t put much competitive at-bats together. But coming back where we play, we know how to play it at home. You never know, but offense is funny that way. Some days, some weeks, you’re not going to score many runs. Other weeks you’re going to score a lot of runs. It all depends on how the offense is clicking together, I guess.”

Belmont Coach Dave Jarvis

On Vanderbilt starter Sonny Gray …

“Sonny Gray is hard for anybody to hit, to be quite honest with you. We know what sort of quality arm he is and what a tremendous competitor he is. It’s quite a task and challenge for our guys, but we’re looking forward to opposing him and stepping in the box.”